54 



CYNODON. 



Cynodon Dactylon (Bermuda Grass). 



Alow, creeping perennial grass, with abundant short leaves at the base, sending 

 up slender, nearly leafless, flower stalks or culms, which have three to five slender, 

 diverging spikes at the summit. The spikelets are sessile in two rows on one side of 

 the slender spikes ; they each have one flower, with a short-pediceled, naked rudi- 

 ment of a second flower ; the outer glumes nearly equal, keeled ; the flowering glume 

 boat-shaped, broader, and prominently keeled; the palet narrow, and two-keeled. 



This is undoubtedly, on the whole, the most valuable grass in the 

 South. It is a native of Southern Europe, and of all tropical coun- 

 tries. It is a common pasture-grass in the West Indies and the Sand- 

 wich Islands, and has long been known in the United States, but the 

 difficulty of eradicating it when once established has retarded its intro- 

 duction into cultivation. Its value, however, is becoming more appre- 

 ciated now that more attention is being given to grass and relatively 

 less to cotton, and better methods and implements of cultivation are 

 being employed. Still, it seems probable, from the reports received, 

 that at the present time a majority of farmers would prefer not to have 

 it on their farms. It seeds very sparingly in the United States, and as 

 the imported seed is not always to be had, and is expensive, and often of 

 poor quality, those who have desired to cultivate it on a large scale 

 have seldom been able to do so. It is generally used as a lawn grass, 

 and to hold levees or railroad embankments, and for small pastures. 

 In some localities, however, it has spread over a considerable extent of 

 territory. Its natural extension into new territory has been slow, 

 owing to the partial or entire absence of seed, but it spreads rapidly 

 by its rooting stems when introduced. It is usually propagated arti- 

 ficially by means of the sets or rooting stems. These are sometimes 

 chopped up with a cutting-knife, sown broadcast, and plowed under 

 not very deeply ; sometimes they are dropped a foot or two apart in 

 shallow furrows, and covered by a plow; sometimes pieces of the sod are 

 planted two feet apart each way. By any of these means a continuous 

 sod is obtained in a few months if the soil is good and well prepared. 



The chief value of Bermuda grass is for summer pasture. It grows 

 best in the hottest weather, and ordinary droughts aifect it but little. 

 The tops are easily killed by frosts, but the roots are quite hardy 

 throughout the Southern States. It is grown to some extent as far 

 north as Virginia, but in that latitude it possesses little advantage over 

 other grasses. In Tennessee, according to Professor Killebrew, its 

 chief value is for pasture, there being other grasses there of more value 

 for hay. Farther South, however, it is highly prized for hay. To make 

 the largest quantity and best quality it should be mowed several times 

 during the season. The yield varies greatly according to soil, being 

 generally reported at from a ton and a half to two tons per acre. Much 

 larger yields have been reported, however, in specially favorable local- 

 ities where several cuttings were made. 



